STACKED SLICES MODEL!

___

Final render of model

For my stacked slices model I decided to rework my previous idea. I still wanted to make some sort of animal / toy structure that is aesthetically pleasing to look at but could be used functionally. After researching and revisiting my ideas, I looked at my designs through the lens of creating a product that I would have wanted to own as a little girl. I ultimately decided on creating a customizable bear head that can be used as a pencil holder. I decided on this as I enjoyed the idea of creating a cute yet function toy that could be customized. I also still wanted to play with materiality by using a cheaper but thicker material to construct the piece so I stuck with wood.

Various glasses example

I thought it would be fun to add customization by creating various glasses that could be added onto the bear. I plan to laser cut the frames out of wood and acrylic as well and paint them similar to the renders. I also plan to paint the ‘facial features’ of the bear as well as adding other customizable elements such as ribbon and/or sequins onto the ears and face. My thought process behind this is that the product would come as a plain bear head pencil holder with various paints and findings to be personalized and customized by the buyer. I thought this would be a fun way to look at this assignment as it’s something that I would have personally loved to purchase and create.
With this simpler design, I was able to run the grid better however I was still running into the issue where the cutout for the pencils itself were being marked as a separate curve. As of right now the only fix I can think of is to recreate the curves manually by baking the stacks and using the BooleanDifference and DupEdge functions. I also made sure to recreate the structure to scale with the inclusion of the thickness of the stacks to match the wood; however I will need to create some sort of prototype to make sure everything is checked out.

Vertical and horizontal heads

render vs stacked holder cutout

Overall this piece was super fun to make and explore! Despite the issues, I'm hoping I will still be able to construct this piece the way I’m intending to. I am excited to start working towards the final steps of this project.